Again this year Bader Beer & Wine Supply will be bringing in fresh picked grapes from the Benton City—Prosser area of the Yakima Valley!
We have 30 varieties of grapes will be available via “pre-order”. We will drive over to the Yakima Valley to pick them up on a Friday, and you will need to pick them up at our store that Saturday. It is normal that grape varieties will ripen at different times, and most years end up with 2 crush weekends 14 day apart. The first weekend typically has the white wine grapes, along with an early ripening red varietal or two.
We will be selling the grapes in 25 pound boxes. The grapes will be in “clusters” on the stem, as that is how they are picked. You will have to be flexible with the weekend the grapes arrive, as we cannot control when the grapes are ripe and the farmer is ready to pick them. Every year is different, so again, you will need to be ready when the grapes are. We can make accomodations for customers who cannot pick their grapes up the day they arrive. Call us and ask how we can help you get your grapes processed.
We cannot ship grapes to mail order customers.
Click here to order white wine grapes
Click here to order red wine grapes
We help you with much of the dirty work processing these grapes. Our service includes crushing/de-stemming the grapes and pressing the grapes here at Bader Beer & Wine Supply. Transportation of the grapes to our store from the Yakima Valley is also included. If you do not want to take advantage of this crushing/pressing service, the price per pound is $.10 less.
If you are purchasing red grapes, we will have a bladder press available on-site 1 week after you receive your grapes for you to return with your fermenting grapes and have us press the juice away from the grapes skins. This service is limited to that Saturday only, sorry, no exceptions. Please let us know if you intend to take advantage of this service at the time of the crush so we can schedule your pressing time. If you wish to rent a press and take it off-site, you will receive a 50% discount on our rental fee.
Refunds and order changes will be accepted up until 3 weeks prior to delivery. Order cancellations less than 3 weeks prior to harvest are at the grape grower's discretion and subject to a 20% cancellation fee. Order alterations less than 3 weeks prior to delivery will be reviewed on a case by case basis. We will do our best to accommodate your order needs, but it isn't always possible late in the season.
As the season progresses we will be sending out email updates of brix and PH tests that the grower provides to us. When we know the exact dates your grapes will be harvested, we will contact you immediately and schedule a time slot to crush/press your grapes. Please leave us with a valid email address & contact phone number for us to contact you about the progress of the harvest. Follow the stores pages on social media for the latest updates on harvest dates.
As of September 14th we will be having our grape crush on the 30th of September. Only few Red Wine varietals are still available to order.
75 pounds of grapes (3 boxes) makes approximately 4.5 to 5.0 gallons of finished wine. It will vary slightly from batch to batch depending on grape skin thickness and ripeness, and of course your winemaking procedures. Each grape cotains a different amount of juice per pound. Adding enzymes will increase yield of juice per pound by up to 10%. Ask us about using enzymes for greater juice extraction.
In order to avoid complete chaos the day you come to pick up your grapes, we will schedule you for an approximate time of day to crush and de-stem your grapes. We spread customers out from 9 am to around 3 pm. You will need a 12 gallon fermenting bucket to transport each 75 lbs. of grapes you crush. We will have 12 gallon and 24 gallon clean buckets for sale available the day of crush. I would suggest having a large garbage bag to put your fermenter in to avoid red wine stains on your carpet & upholstery on your car trip home.